597 research outputs found
X-ray Variability of the Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable V1432 Aql and the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 6814
V1432 Aquilae (=RX J1940.2-1025) is the X-ray bright, eclipsing magnetic
cataclysmic variable ~37' away from the Seyfert galaxy, NGC 6814. Due to a 0.3%
difference between the orbital (12116.3 s) and the spin (12150 s) periods, the
accretion geometry changes over the ~50 day beat period. Here we report the
results of an RXTE campaign to observe the eclipse 25 times, as well as of
archival observations with ASCA and BeppoSAX. Having confirmed that the eclipse
is indeed caused by the secondary, we use the eclipse timings and profiles to
map the accretion geometry as a function of the beat phase. We find that the
accretion region is compact, and that it moves relative to the center of white
dwarf on the beat period. The amplitude of this movement suggest a low-mass
white dwarf, in contrast to the high mass previously estimated from its X-ray
spectrum. The size of the X-ray emission region appears to be larger than in
other eclipsing magnetic CVs. We also report on the RXTE data as well as the
long-term behavior of NGC 6814, indicating flux variability by a factor of at
least 10 on time scales of years.Comment: 44 pages including 16 figures; ApJ, in pres
RXTE Hard X-ray Observation of A754: Constraining the Hottest Temperature Component and the Intracluster Magnetic Field
Abell 754, a cluster undergoing merging, was observed in hard X-rays with the
Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in order to constrain its hottest
temperature component and search for evidence of nonthermal emission.
Simultaneous modeling of RXTE data and those taken with previous missions
yields an average intracluster temperature of keV in the 1-50 keV
energy band. A multi-temperature component model derived from numerical
simulations of the evolution of a cluster undergoing a merger produces similar
quality of fit, indicating that the emission measure from the very hot gas
component is sufficiently small that it renders the two models
indistinguishable. No significant nonthermal emission was detected. However,
our observations set an upper limit of
(90% confidence limit) to the nonthermal emission flux at 20 keV. Combining
this result with the radio synchrotron emission flux we find a lower limit of
0.2 G for the intracluster magnetic field. We discuss the implications of
our results for the theories of magnetic field amplifications in cluster
mergers.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 22 pages, 5
figure
X-Ray Spectral Variability of PKS 2005-489 During the Spectacular November 1998 Flare
We report on monitoring of the BL Lac object PKS 2005-489 by the Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer (RXTE) in October-December 1998. During these months, the
source underwent a spectacular flare; at its peak on November 10, its 2-10 keV
flux was , over 30 times
brighter than in quiescence. During the rising phase, the X-ray spectrum of PKS
2005-489 hardened considerably, reaching near maximum. During the declining phase, the X-ray spectrum
steepened rapidly, reaching , then became somewhat harder
towards the end of December (). While such behavior has been
seen before, the simplicity, magnitude and duration of this flare allowed us to
study it in great detail. We argue that this flare was caused by either the
injection of particles into the jet or {\it in situ} particle acceleration, and
that the spectral steepening which followed the flare maximum was the result of
synchrotron cooling. Contrary to other recently observed blazar flares (e.g.,
Mkn 501, 3C 279, PKS 2155-304), our results do not imply a major shift in the
location of the synchrotron peak during this flare.Comment: ApJ Letters in press, 6 pages, 2 figures Corrected reference
A Novel Approach in Constraining Electron Spectra in Blazar Jets: The Case of Markarian 421
We report results from the observations of the well studied TeV blazar Mrk
421 with the Swift and the Suzaku satellites in December 2008. During the
observation, Mrk 421 was found in a relatively low activity state, with the
corresponding 2-10 keV flux of erg/s/cm^2. For the purpose
of robust constraining the UV-to-X-ray emission continuum we selected only the
data corresponding to truly simultaneous time intervals between Swift and
Suzaku, allowing us to obtain a good-quality, broad-band spectrum despite a
modest length (0.6 ksec) exposure. We analyzed the spectrum with the parametric
forward-fitting SYNCHROTRON model implemented in XSPEC assuming two different
representations of the underlying electron energy distribution, both well
motivated by the current particle acceleration models: a power-law distribution
above the minimum energy with an exponential cutoff at the
maximum energy , and a modified ultra-relativistic Maxwellian
with an equilibrium energy . We found that the latter implies
unlikely physical conditions within the blazar zone of Mrk 421. On the other
hand, the exponentially moderated power-law electron distribution gives two
possible sets of the model parameters: (i) flat spectrum with low minimum electron energy , and
(ii) steep spectrum with high minimum electron energy
. We discuss different interpretations of
both possibilities in the context of a diffusive acceleration of electrons at
relativistic, sub- or superluminal shocks. We also comment on how exactly the
gamma-ray data can be used to discriminate between the proposed different
scenarios.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Variability Time Scales of TeV Blazars Observed in the ASCA Continuous Long-Look X-ray Monitoring
Three uninterrupted, long (lasting respectively 7, 10, and 10 days) ASCA
observations of the well-studied TeV-bright blazars Mrk 421, Mrk 501 and PKS
2155-304 all show continuous strong X-ray flaring. Despite the relatively faint
intensity states in 2 of the 3 sources, there was no identifiable quiescent
period in any of the observations. Structure function analysis shows that all
blazars have a characteristic time scale of ~ a day, comparable to the
recurrence time and to the time scale of the stronger flares. On the other
hand, examination of these flares in more detail reveals that each of the
strong flares is not a smooth increase and decrease, but exhibits substructures
of shorter flares having time scales of ~10 ks. We verify via simulations that
in order to explain the observed structure function, these shorter flares
("shots") are unlikely to be fully random, but in some way are correlated with
each other. The energy dependent cross-correlation analysis shows that
inter-band lags are not universal in TeV blazars. This is important since in
the past, only positive detections of lags were reported. In this work, we
determine that the sign of a lag may differ from flare to flare; significant
lags of both signs were detected from several flares, while no significant lag
was detected from others. However, we also argue that the nature of the
underlying component can affect these values. The facts that all flares are
nearly symmetric and that fast variability shorter than the characteristic time
scale is strongly suppressed, support the scenario where the light crossing
time dominates the variability time scales of the day-scale flares.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Implications of Variability Patterns observed in TeV Blazars on the Structure of the Inner Jet
The recent long look X-ray observations of TeV blazars have revealed many
important new features concerning their time variability. In this paper, we
suggest a physical interpretation for those features based on the framework of
the internal and external shock scenarios. We present a simplified model
applicable to TeV blazars, and investigate through simulations how each of the
model parameters would affect to the observed light curve or spectrum. In
particular, we show that the internal shock scenario naturally leads to all the
observed variability properties including the structure function, but for it to
be applicable, the fractional fluctuation of the initial bulk Lorentz factors
must be small, with sigma_gamma / gamma_average < 0.01. This implies very low
dynamical efficiency of the internal shock scenario. We also suggest that
several observational quantities -- such as the characteristic time scale, the
relative amplitude of flares as compared to the steady (``offset'') component,
and the slope of the structure function -- can be used to probe the inner jet.
The results are applied to the TeV blazar Mrk421, and this, within the context
of the model, leads to the determination of several physical parameters: the
ejection of a shell with average thickness of ~1E13 cm occurs on average every
10 minutes, and the shells collide ~1E17 cm away from the central source.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, to appear in Ap
High-redshift blazars through nustar eyes
The most powerful sources among the blazar family are MeV blazars. Often
detected at , they usually display high X- and \gm-ray luminosities,
larger-than-average jet powers and black hole masses .
In the present work we perform a multiwavelength study of three high redshift
blazars: 3FGL J0325.5+2223 (), 3FGL J0449.0+1121 (), and 3FGL
J0453.22808 (), analysing quasi simultaneous data from GROND,
\swift-UVOT and XRT, \nustar, and \fermi-LAT. Our main focus is on the hard
X-ray band recently unveiled by \nustar~(379 keV) where these objects show a
hard spectrum which enables us to constrain the inverse Compton peak and the
jet power. We found that all three targets resemble the most powerful blazars,
with the synchrotron peak located in the sub-millimeter range and the inverse
Compton peak in the MeV range, and therefore belong to the MeV blazar class.
Using a simple one zone leptonic emission model to reproduce the spectral
energy distributions, we conclude that a simple combination of synchrotron and
accretion disk emission reproduces the infrared-optical spectra while the X-ray
to \gm-ray part is well reproduced by the inverse Compton scattering of low
energy photons supplied by the broad line region. The black hole masses for
each of the three sources are calculated to be . The three studied sources have jet power at the level of, or
beyond, the accretion luminosity.Comment: 4 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
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